lecture 12

• Psychopathology


  Scientific study of mental/psychological disorders
• Psychopathology


  • Used to be "abnormal psychology"
  • 4 models explored today
  • Psychology and medical students are prone to a grave disease: symptomitis
  • Only training clinician should make a diagnosis using diagnostic tools
• "Abnormal" behaviour


  • Behaviour, thoughts, emotions are unusual
  • Causes distress to the person or people close to them
  • Interferes with daily functioning (work, school, social life)
  • If you are putting yourself of others at risk
• Remember the 5th D that creeps in: Denial
• Classifying psychopathology


  • Different countries / regulatory bodies will make use of different systems
  • International Classification of Diseases (ICD) - used by most countries, published by the WHO, tenth edition
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) - provides categorical list of symptoms for all 400 mental disorders, fifth edition
• Classifying: some terminology


  • Diagnosis: identifying a disorder by its symptoms and other evidence
  • Comorbidity: 2 or more diseases are present
  • Differential diagnosis: what other disorder could it be?
  • Signs: observable indications of a disorder (clinician)
  • Symptoms: self-reported physical/psychological effects (client)
• Neuroscience/Biomedical Model


  • Disorders = illnesses caused by a malfunctioning brain
  • Genetic inheritance
  • Viral infection
  • Brain structure/neurotransmitter systems
• Cognitive Behavioural Model


  • Disorders = result of maladaptive learned behaviours and problematic thinking
  • Arbitrary inferences: negative conclusions based on little evidence
  • Selective perception: seeing negative features of events
  • Overgeneralisation: broad, negative conclusions
• Classical Conditioning


  1. Pairing an object with an unconditioned stimuli

  2. This can be how a phobia was developed
• Operant Conditioning


  1. Reward and punishment

  2. Substance abuse: associate with initial good feelings of calmness
• Modelling


  1. Learned behaviour by observing others

  2. Children may learn dysfunctional behaviour from parents
• Psychodynamic Model


  • Psychopathology determined by underlying unconscious (internal) forces
  • Sexual and aggressive instincts have to be repressed because they are forbidden by society, they express themselves through psychological symptoms
• Psychodynamic Model


  • Id = instincts and drives
  • Ego = controls id
  • Superego = conscience
• Psychodynamic Model


  • Disorders = result of conflict between id, ego and superego
  • Ideas are formed in early childhood with early experiences with parents
  • We use defence mechanisms to ward off pain and fear
  • Object relations theorists: people's primary motivation is to form relationships, problems with early relationships will result in psychological problems
• Socio-Cultural/Community Model


  • A society's characteristics creates distress for some of its members
  • Socio-economic
  • Political
  • Poverty? Crime?
  • Cultural context (ukutwasa) ancestral calling to be an indigenous healer (isasangoma) ('hear voices')